Watch out for the Ultima Demons turn to crystals. The Lucavi can pick up these

crystals up to restore some of their HP (though fortunately not all of it).

This isn’t fatal, but can be annoying! Grab the crystals as soon as they

appear, and if you see a KOed Ultima Demon about to disappear, try to position

yourself between the enemies and the body so that they can’t grab the crystal

before you can. The Lucavi themselves explode when KOed and do not leave

crystals.

With Ribbons and First Strike, this battle actually goes quite quickly -- not

only are you virtually invulnerable, you’ll quickly defeat the Lucavi because

their attempts to attack you get turned into additional attack opportunities.

That makes this battle a great one to repeatedly tackle to acquire high-level

rare items. Each player can deploy just a single character to increase your

treasure haul.

The two unique treasures you can obtain here are the Gungnir spear and the

Dreamwaker staff. The Gungnir isn’t really special -- it’s weaker than the

Javelin II. The Dreamwaker is the best staff in the game; although it doesn’t

have the strongest attack power, it boosts your magick power more than any

other staff.

TITLE AWARDED: Dreamcatcher

UNIQUE POSSIBLE TREASURES: Gungnir, Dreamwaker

---Rendezvous Mission 14: Brave Story------------------------------------------

AVAILABLE AFTER...: Completing single-player game

BATTLE MAP: Monastery Vaults - Fifth Level

YOUR FORCES: 1-3 characters per player

ENEMY FORCES:

1ST BATTLE: Luso, Cloud, Chocobo x3, Black Chocobo x3, Red Chocobo x2

2ND BATTLE: Mustadio, Balthier, Chemist (male) x2, Chemist (female) x2,

Orator (male) x2, Orator (female) x2

3RD BATTLE: Onion Knight (male) x2, Onion Knight (female) x3,

Plague Horror x1, Cockatrice x2, Sekhret x2

4TH BATTLE: Cuchulainn [The Impure; Scorpio], Elidibus [Serpentarius],

Great Malboro x5, Knight (male, undead) x3

5TH BATTLE: Dycedarg, Zalbaag, Gaffgarion, Argath, Dragoon (male) x6

6TH BATTLE: Orlandeau, Agrias, Alma, Ovelia, Rapha, Marach, Orran,

Time Mage (female) x2, Mystic (male) x1

7TH BATTLE: Elmdore, Zalbaag, Celia, Lettie, Archaeodaemon x6

8TH BATTLE: Bremondt, Beowulf, Aliste, Reis, Hydra x2, Greater Hydra x2,

Tiamat x2

9TH BATTLE: Isilud, Meliadoul, Barich, Cletienne, Loffrey, Wiegraf, Folmarv,

Zalmour, Time Mage (female) x2

10TH BATTLE: Delita [Sagittarius; Holy Knight], Valmafra [Leo; Sorceror],

Dark Knight (female) x8

---PREPARATION---

If you thought The Knights Templar was long, this one is even longer! FFT’s

100-Man Melee, the Brave Story mission consists of no fewer than TEN continuous

battles, each with 10 opponents, for a total of 100 enemies. You’ll face off

against most of the game’s story characters in the game here.

Orlandeau and Agrias are really the best characters here, since their sword

techniques work on everything. Meliadoul would also work, but only if

supplemented with some other good attack command (e.g. Darkness, or maybe

Jump) since some enemies have Safeguard and are immune to her Crush attacks.

Other good abilities to have here are Darkness and Arts of War (for equipment

and MP breaking). A long-range Jump can be useful in some situations, but

there are a lot of enemies here who have Shirahadori and can block it.

Finally, Balthier’s Barrage attack is also effective for general combat and for

breaking through enemy Shirahadoris.

A few key defensive abilities will actually protect you almost everything here.

First, Shirahadori and a high Bravery will stop physical attacks. Safeguard

will make you immune to Crush attacks, and also keep your equipment from being

stolen or rent. Finally, equip female characters with a Ribbon (easily

obtained in Melee Mode or elsewhere in Rendezvous Mode) to stop all status

attacks, and male characters with a Thief’s Cap to at least stop Immobilize and

Disable. With these abilities, there are actually only a few enemies here that

pose a real threat.

The best shields to go with are the Reverie Shield or Kaiser Shield, both of

which halve damage from fire, ice, lightning attacks. This is important

against the hydras -- there’s no way to *evade* their breath attacks, but the

shield will reduce the damage it does. The Escutcheon II is actually less

useful here -- since Shirahadori can block almost all physical attacks anyway,

the high physical evade rate from the Escutcheon II doesn’t count for much.

As with The Knights Templar, you won’t be healed between battles. KOed

characters also won’t be revived, although their death counter will reset.

Other status ailments ARE removed, as is broken equipment. Buffs will also

disappear, so using Tailwind during the first battle will not help you later

on, alas. Finally, crystals and chests on the battlefield will also disappear

between battles, so if you see something you want to grab, be sure to pick it

up before the battle ends!

Since you’re not automatically healed, having some healing abilities is

important. Carrying a Chaos Blade actually helps a lot with this, since it

gives you a permanent Regen. If you have a powerful HP-draining attack --

Orlandeau’s Shadowblade or the Dark Knight’s Sanguine Sword -- you’re set. (An

HP-draining weapon like the Orochi ninja sword or the Blood Sword could

conceivably also be used, but the former won’t allow you to use sword

techniques and the latter is too weak.) Armor that gives you an auto-Reraise

-- i.e., the Brave Suit from Melee Mode or the Grand Armor from The Guarded

Temple -- will also help out a lot. Otherwise, you might want to consider

giving one character an Action Ability that lets him or her heal (e.g. Items,

Martial Arts, White Magick, Iaido, or Summon). Before wrapping up each battle,

you can leave one enemy standing and take some time to heal characters.

Equipping the Tynar Rouge or a Brigand’s Gloves will give you a permanent

Haste, which is quite useful both in giving you the edge against the enemies

and in reducing the time needed to hack through all ten levels.

Move +2 or Move +3 is probably the best movement ability here. Since you’re

fighting on a map with a lot of holes, though, you might also consider the

Time Mage’s Levitate ability, which will let you move anywhere you want and

saves you from having to take detours around the holes.

Also note that you CAN target "hole" panels, even though you can’t see your

targeting cursor. This is often useful when a hole happens to be a good place

to center a Hallowed Bolt.

Since many of the enemies here have Shirahadori or First Strike and physical

attacks are ineffective against them, using Onion Knights (even fully powered

up ones) is probably not a good idea.

Finally, it’s worth pointing out that this mission is LONG. You and your

partner will need to set aside a fair amount of time to clear all ten battles.

Now for strategies for specific battles:

---BATTLE 1---

ENEMY: Cloud [Aquarius] - Soldier - Bravery 76, Faith 59

Equipment : Materia Blade, Thief’s Cap, Black Garb, random accessory

Abilities : Limit, Shirahadori, Swiftness, other abilities random

ENEMY: Luso [Cancer] - Game Hunter - Bravery 71, Faith 63

Equipment : Icebrand, Crystal Shield, Thief’s Cap, Luminous Robe,

random accessory

Abilities : Huntcraft, Reflexes, Tame, Move +1, random movement ability

The first battle pits you against Luso, Cloud, and 8 chocobos. Cloud has

Swiftness to help his Limits charge faster, but even still, you can probably

take him out before he can use them. (He has Shirahadori, so don’t try direct

physical attacks unless you’re Dual Wielded.)

After Cloud, the Red Chocobos are the next enemies to take out since their

Choco Meteor attack is unblockable and does a fair amount of damage. Attacking

them with HP-drain attacks will keep you healthy. The Black Chocobos are

your next target, since their Choco Pellets attack is also reasonably powerful.

(You can at least block this one with shields, though not with Shirahadori.)

Although the plain yellow Chocobos can heal wounded allies, this isn’t too much

of a problem since you can probably defeat most of the Chocobos in a single

attack, which leaves no chance for healing! Luso also doesn’t really have any

special abilities and isn’t much of a threat.

---BATTLE 2---

ENEMY: Mustadio [Libra] - Machinist - Bravery 68, Faith 65

Equipment : Blaze Gun, Thief’s Cap, Luminous Robe, random accessory

Abilities : Aimed Shot, Arts of War, Soulbind, Defense Boost,

random movement ability

ENEMY: Balthier [Leo] - Sky Pirate - Bravery 75, Faith 63

Equipment : Blaster, Crystal Shield, Thief’s Cap, Luminous Robe, Angel Ring

Abilities : Piracy, Items, First Strike, Throw Items, Move +1

Battle two is against 10 gunfighters, including Mustadio and Balthier.

Shirahadori will be very helpful here in avoiding the enemy gun attacks. If

you have Shirahadori and gear to protect against the Bunansas’ Arm Shots and

Leg Shots, you can’t really be hurt here. If you’re not protected against

Immobilize or Disable, you could try Purification or Esuna to restore

characters who do get Immobilized or Disabled. (If you’re just Immobilized,

you can even use it on yourself.)

Agrias has poor Zodiac compatibility with Mustadio and won’t do much damage to

him, so to speed things up, send another character after Mustadio.

Remember that Balthier’s Sky Pirate job has an innate Safeguard, so Crush

skills will not work against him. He also has an Angel Ring, which means that

you will have to KO him twice. Or, simply attack him last. (Since he takes a

while to take down, you might want him to attack him last anyway.)

The female enemies in the back row tend to use Dance abilities, but this isn’t

a particular threat.

---BATTLE 3---

ENEMY: Red [Capricorn] - Male Onion Knight - Bravery 75, Faith 65

Equipment : Ragnarok, Kaiser Shield, Grand Helm, Maximilian, Japa Mala

Abilities : Arts of War, Counter, Safeguard, Move +2

ENEMY: Purple [Pisces] - Male Onion Knight - Bravery 75, Faith 65

Equipment : Dragon Whisker, Grand Helm, Maximilian, Japa Mala

Abilities : Jump, Dragonheart, Safeguard, Move +2

ENEMY: Green [Taurus] - Female Onion Knight - Bravery 75, Faith 65

Equipment : Perseus Bow, Ribbon, Maximilian, Bracer

Abilities : Items, First Strike, Safeguard, Move +2

ENEMY: Black [Virgo] - Female Onion Knight - Bravery 75, Faith 65

Equipment : Zeus Mace, Crystal Shield, Ribbon, Maximilian, Sortile’ge

Abilities : Iaido, Cup of Life, Safeugard, Move +2

ENEMY: Yellow [Cancer] - Female Onion Knight - Bravery 75, Faith 65

Equipment : Wyrmweave Silk, Ribbon, Maximilian, Cherche

Abilities : Dance, Mana Shield, Safeguard, Move +2

Battle three pits you against the Motley Onion Fighting Outfit plus some

assorted monsters. Try to KO the Plague Horror and Cockatrices quickly since

they can inflict status ailments like Stone on any characters that don’t have

Ribbons. The Sekhrets are the next targets since their Earthsplitter attack is

pretty powerful. (If you’re using Levitate, though, you’ll be immune to this

attack.)

Although Onion Knights can’t normally equip abilities, the Fighting Outfit has

them anyway. With Shirahadori, though, they’re mostly harmless, so take out

the monsters first. Red, Green, and Black basically just use physical attacks,

which you can easily deflect. Purple uses Jump attacks; these can also be

blocked by Shirahadori, but it makes him harder to hit. Be sure to attack him

when you get the chance. Yellow is pretty annoying because she tends to runs

into a corner and use Dance. Plus, she has Mana Shield, so she takes several

attacks to defeat. You may want to chase after her and start attacking her

first.

The Onion Knights all have Safeguard, so, again, Crush skills are out. This

also means that you can’t steal any of their equipment, which is unfortunate,

as it’s quite good!

If you want to defeat the Onion Knights quickly, Orlandeau has great

compatibility against Green and good compatibility against Purple and Yellow.

Agrias has great compatibility against Red and good against Purple. Meliadoul

has good compatibiltiy against Green and Black but terrible compatibility

against Yellow!

---BATTLE 4---

Battle 4 is where it starts getting a little more interesting. Here you’ll

face Elidibus, Cuchulainn, three undead Knights, and five Great Malboros. The

Great Malboros’ Bad Breath can be quite dangerous for characters who don’t have

a Ribbon. You may want such characters to keep their distance from the

Malboros. The Malboros have quite high HP and may take multiple attacks to

KO, so focus your attacks on one or two until you take themdown.

If you have someone with Items, use Phoenix Downs to quickly defeat the enemy

Knights; if you’re using Balthier (or Mustadio), Seal Evil is even better.

Remember NOT to try draining HP from undead enemies, as it actually hurts you!

When you KO them, the Knights here all get stars over their head rather than

death counters, which means they can’t revive even though they’re undead. (So,

it doesn’t really matter if you don’t petrify them.)

Instead, focus on breaking through the enemy line so you can reach Elidibus.

He can still cast Zodiark which, of course, makes him the biggest threat.

He’s not quite as dangerous as he was on Terminus, though, just because the map

is smaller and you should be able to reach him before he can cast the summon.

One strategy you may want to use, then, is just to wipe out his MP so he can’t

Zodiark. Two Rend MPs will do it, or you can use Duskblade or Infernal Strike.

Even if Elidibus has no MP, he can still use Poisonous Frog (which doesn’t cost

MP) to frog you, but this will be removed at the end of the battle. Cuchulainn

will probably just use Nightmare to put you to sleep, which, while annoying, is

relatively harmless. You’re better off defeating Elidibus first, *then* going

after him. The enemies here use a lot of status attacks, but with at least one

Ribbon, you should be OK, and all of the status ailments are removed for the

start of the next battle.

If you didn’t learn Zodiark from Elidibus during the single-player game, or

want to have additional characters learn it, you can learn it here as well.

It’s probably easier to survive the spell here as you have a good opportunity

to use Rend Magick on Elidibus and make the summon less deadly. Note, though,

that you must successfully complete all ten battles in this mission to keep the

summon; if you die partway through, Zodiark will be lost.

---BATTLE 5---

ENEMY: Dycedarg [Scorpio] - Rune Knight - Bravery 68, Faith 66

Equipment : Save the Queen, Crystal Shield, Circlet, Luminous Robe,

Magick Ring

Abilities : Swordplay, Items, Regenerate, Arcane Strength, Move +1

ENEMY: Zalbaag [Cancer] - Ark Knight - Bravery 75, Faith 68

Equipment : Save the Queen, Protect Ring, other equipment random

Abilities : Blade of Ruin, Martial Arts, Bonecrusher, Attack Boost, Move +1

ENEMY: Gaffgarion [Virgo] - Fell Knight - Bravery 65, Faith 52

Equipment : Defender, Reflect Ring, other equipment random

Abilities : Fell Sword, Bardsong, Counter, Defense Boost,

random movement ability

ENEMY: Argath [Virgo] - Squire - Bravery 54, Faith 52

Equipment : Gastrophetes, Thief’s Cap, Luminous Robe, Guardian Bracelet

Abilities : Fundaments, Steal, Bravery Boost, Equip Crossbows,

random movement ability

Battle 5 pits you against Duke Larg’s forces, including a plethora of Dragoons.

Gaffgarion and Dycedarg use sword techniques, making them the most dangerous,

and Gaffgarion’s allow him to steal HP back to himself! However, Dycedarg

does not have the Magicks command that he used in Eagrose Castle, and this

version of Zalbaag does not have Vampire.

You can often hit multiple Dragoons with your initial attacks. Some are

arranged in a plus-shape formation that you can hit with Hallowed Bolt or other

area-effect targets. If you look closely, you’ll also see that many are

arranged in a horizontal line; Divine Ruination, Kiku-ichimonji, Shockwave, or

other attacks that strike along a long line can hit many of these. You can

probably KO a majority of the Dragoons in your initial attacks.

As long as you have Shirahadori and good Bravery, the other Dragoons can’t hurt

you much. So, target Dycedarg and Gaffgarion next because of their powerful

sword techniques. Argath is totally useless here (he just has a crossbow), so

you can leave him for later.

---BATTLE 6---

ENEMY: Orlandeau [Scorpio] - Sword Saint - Bravery 77, Faith 65

Equipment : Excalibur, Crystal Helm, Crystal Mail, other equipment random

Abilities : Swordplay, Iaido, Bonecrusher, Doublehand, Move +2

ENEMY: Agrias [Cancer] - Holy Knight - Bravery 71, Faith 63

Equipment : Save the Queen, Crystal Shield, Crystal Helm, Crystal Mail,

random accessory

Abilities : Holy Sword, Iaido, Shirahadori, Defense Boost, Move +2

ENEMY: Alma [Cleric] - Leo - Bravery 31, Faith 87

Equipment : Mage’s Staff, Barette, Gaia Gear, Red Shoes

Abilities : Holy Magicks, Time Magicks, Soulbind, Arcane Defense,

Ignore Terrain

ENEMY: Ovelia [Taurus] - Princess - Bravery 53, Faith 72

Equipment : Mage’s Staff, Cachusha, Gaia Gear, Red Shoes

Abilities : Holy Magicks, Time Magicks, Soulbind, Arcane Strength,

Ignore Terrain

ENEMY: Rapha [Skyseer] - Skyseer - Bravery 31, Faith 69

Equipment : Eight-fluted Pole, Thief’s Cap, Black Garb, Featherweave Cloak

Abilities : Sky Mantra, Items, Nature’s Wrath, Swiftness, Manafont

ENEMY: Marach [Netherseer] - Netherseer - Bravery 69, Faith 31

Equipment : Eight-fluted Pole, Thief’s Cap, Black Garb, Featherweave Cloak

Abilities : Nether Mantra, Items, Nature’s Wrath, Swiftness, Manafont

ENEMY: Orran [Cancer] - Astrologer - Bravery 73, Faith 71

Equipment : Omnilex, Thief’s Cap, Black Garb, Japa Mala

Abilities : Astrology, Items, Magick Counter, Swiftness, Lifefont

When Dycedarg’s team goes down, you’re halfway through! Next up is a tricky

battle against a large assortment of your own allies, including Orlandeau,

Agrias, Ovelia, Alma, Rapha, Marach, and Orran. You’ll now be on the receiving

end of Orran’s Celestial Stasis ability. If you have Ribbons and Thief’s Caps,

though, you’re mostly immune to it. (Characters with Thief’s Caps can still

be Stopped, but that’s all.) It still can cast Stop on characters who don’t

have a Ribbon, though, so you’ll probably want to make a beeline for Orran and

KO before he can paralyze anyone. (Orlandeau should be able to defeat him in

a single attack thanks to their Zodiac compatibility.) If your entire team has

Ribbons, you can pretty much ignore Orran completely.

Along with Orran, Agrias and Orlandeau should be your first targets because of

their powerful sword techniques. Agrias’s Save the Queen gives her a permanent

Protect, which makes her slow to defeat. Try using Crush Weapon to break it.

(She also has Shirahadori, so Jump or non-Dual Wielded physical attacks will

not work.) Agrias and Orlandeau have good Zodiac compatibility with each

other, which means Agrias is good for defeating the enemy Orlandeau and

Orlandeau good against the enemy Agrias!

Once you defeat Agrias and Orlandeau, you’ll probably want to go after Alma

and Ovelia next. As in the main storyline, they mostly cast their Aegis buff.

This can make other enemies tough to defeat, but Alma and Ovelia always cast it

on themselves, so you’ve got some time to catch up to them and defeat them.

Watch out for their Soulbind! They have so little HP that you may be able to

just circumvent Soulbind by KOing them in a single attack, though. (This will

be a little tougher if they cast Aegis on themselves and have Shell/Protect;

you could try dispeling those effects if you have an ability that will do so.)

If they did succeed in casting Aegis on themselves, they’ll have a Reraise that

lets them return after the KO. So, stay close to them after KOing the first

time. When they wake up, quickly KO them again before they can cast Aegis a

second time. Note that Alma has a very high Faith, so magick would do a lot of

damage to her.

Rapha and Marach are, as always, not really worth worrying about until the end.

---BATTLE 7---

ENEMY: Elmdore [Gemini] - Ark Knight - Bravery 70, Faith 70

Equipment : Masamune, Genji Shield, Genji Helm, Genji Armor, Genji Glove

Abilities : Sword Spirit, Vampire, Shirahadori, Brawler, Master Teleportation

ENEMY: Celia [Sagittarius] - Assassin - Bravery 65, Faith 70

Equipment : Kiku-ichimonji x2, Thief’s Cap, Black Garb, random accessory

Abilities : Subdual Arts, Vampire, Move +1, random other abilities

ENEMY: Lettie [Scorpio] - Assassin - Bravery 65, Faith 70

Equipment : Spellbinder x2, Thief’s Cap, Black Garb, random accessory

Abilities : Subdual Arts, Vampire, Move +1, random other abilities

ENEMY: Zalbaag [Cancer] - Ark Knight - Bravery 33, Faith 77

Equipment : Runeblade, Crystal Shield, Crystal Helm, Crystal Mail,

Germinas Boots

Abilities : Blade of Ruin, Vampire, Adrenaline Rush, Defense Boost, Lifefont

In Battle 7, you’ll face Elmdore’s forces, including Elmdore, Celia, Lettie,

the zombie version of Zalbaag, and some Archaeodaemons. Elmdore is equipped

much as he was before, and you can’t still get his Genji stuff. Celia and

Lettie still have their Subdual Arts abilities, and all four humans (including

Celia and Lettie!) now have the ability to turn you into Vampires. This causes

a character to go Berserk and start trying to Vampire other characters,

including your own allies! This can be pretty dangerous, especially since you

lose the battle if all characters get turned into a Vampire. Shirahadori does

not block the Vampire attack, but having a Ribbon will at least protect you

from the Vampire status if not the damage from the attack. If one of your male

characters does get turned into a Vampire (as signified by the bat icon), keep

your other characters clear of him. As long as you do so, he should just

attack monsters, and you’re fine. There’s not much that can cure Vampire

status, only the Holy Water item, but it will be removed at the end of the

battle. If the Vampired character really gets to be a problem, you could

always KO him and then revive him at the start of the next battle when he’s no

longer a Vampire.

The good news is that Celia and Lettie are in perfect position for a Hallowed

Bolt at the start of the battle. You can probably also attack multiple

Archaeodaemons at once. Unlike in Limberry, Celia and Lettie do NOT turn into

Ultima Demons when KOed. Zalbaag, for some reason, seems to turn into a

crystal immediately upon being KOed. Grab it before any wounded enemy can.

Elmdore has a lot of HP and will probably take several attacks, so you may want

to focus on eliminating the other humans first.

Be careful when attacking the Archaeodemons. Their Karma magick does damage

equal to the HP they’ve lost. If you leave an Archaeodemon standing with

little HP, this attack will be very powerful and do hundreds of damage! Once

you’ve started attacked an Archaeodemon, quickling finish it off. The

Archaeodaemons like to retreat into a corner of the map; a long-range Jump

attack is good for defeating them, if you happen to have it. You can also take

advantage of the old trick of standing next to another enemy when one of the

Archaeodemons starts casting Giga Flare, so the enemy will be hit by magick’s

effect radius. At any rate, the Archaedemons don’t have that much HP, so you

can hopefully defeat them in one hit if your Zodiac compatibility isn’t bad.

(There’s a certain amount of luck here since the Archaeodemons have random

Zodiac signs.)

---BATTLE 8---

ENEMY: Bremondt [Gemini] - Celebrant - Bravery 15, Faith 75

Equipment : Zeus Mace, Gold Hairpin, Lordly Robe, Featherweave Cloak

Abilities : Priest Magicks, Throw, Counter Tackle, Safeguard, Lifefont

ENEMY: Beowulf [Libra] - Templar - Bravery 60, Faith 73

Equipment : Ragnarok, Venetian Shield, Grand Helm, Maximillian, Germinas Boots

Abilities : Spellblade, Iaido, First Strike, Safeguard, Manafont

ENEMY: Aliste [Scorpio] - Templar - Bravery 70, Faith 58

Equipment : Ragnarok, Kaiser Shield, Genji Helm, Genji Armor, Genji Glove

Abilities : Spellblade, Iaido, Shirahadori, Safeguard, Move +1

ENEMY: Reis [Pisces] - Dragonkin - Bravery 70, Faith 58

Equipment : Cachusha, Japa Mala

Abilities : Dragon, White Magicks, Dragonheart, Arcane Strength, Lifefont

Battle 8 pits you the characters from Beowulf’s storyline, plus an assortment

of hydras. This is probably the toughest battle in the sequence: Beowulf and

Aliste can inflict status ailments, the hydras do big damage (and their breath

attacks can’t be blocked with Shirahadori), Reis can support the hydras, and

Bremondt and Reis can both Raise KOed allies. This is where Kaiser or Reverie

Shields will be quite helpful, as they halve all the damage from the hydras’

breath attacks.

If you can move quickly, you can hit Beowulf and Aliste with a Hallowed Bolt

before they can move. You’ll want to take them out first because of the status

ailments they can inflict on characters without Ribbons.

If you have your own Reis deployed, you should be able to use Dragon’s Charm to

invite the hydras onto your team. This is quite helpful, as it not only

reduces the number of enemies you’re fighting but gives you an extra helping

hand. (They won’t stay with you past this round, though.)

Although the hydras are the ones doing the damage here, you’ll probably have to

KO Bremondt and Reis first. Otherwise, they’ll just keep healing or Raising

the hydras. (Orlandeau can do a lot of damage to Reis because of his Zodiac

compatibility.) Don’t worry; Bremondt doesn’t turn into the Dark Dragon when

KOed here.

The hydras all have 900+ HP, so you’re unlikely to be able to KO one in a

single attack. For your first attack, try using Northswain’s Strike or the

Dark Knight’s Crushing Blow, which may inflict KO or Stop (respectively) and

put the hydra out of play in a single blow. (Of course, there’s no guarantee it

will happen, but it’s worth a try!) Six hydras together are quite dangerous,

so focus on quickly KOing a few to reduce the number of enemies you’re facing.

The white Tiamat and black Greater Tiamats are the real dangers because they

have the breath attacks; unless augmented by Reis’s Beastmaster, the orange

Hydras can only do physical attacks, which you can easily block. Any hydra

that gets separated from the group is a prime target, as you can attack it

without putting yourself in danger. And as always, whenever you can attack

without moving, you’ll get more turns quickly. The hydras’ breath attacks can

do quite a bit of damage, so keep your HP high using HP-drain attacks. Hydras

that are low on HP may flee into a corner, and you can just leave them there

until you defeat the others.

After battling all these hydras, you may find yourself low on HP by the end of

the battle. It’s probably a good idea to heal yourself before moving onto the

next battle. This is fairly easy to do; if the last hydra has critical HP, it

will just cower in the corner and you’ve got plenty of time to heal. Just be

sure to pick up any crystallized monsters before the hydra can heal itself!

---BATTLE 9---

ENEMY: Isilud [Pisces] - Nightblade - Bravery 97, Faith 63

Equipment : Excalibur, Crystal Shield, Luminous Robe, other equipment random

Abilities : Arts of War, Counter, Attack Boost, Ignore Elevation,

other ability random

ENEMY: Meliadoul [Capricorn] - Divine Knight - Bravery 97, Faith 63

Equipment : Excalibur, Crystal Shield, Circlet, Luminous Robe, Septie`me

Abilities : Unyielding Blade, Counter, Attack Boost, Ignore Elevation,

other ability random

ENEMY: Barich [Sagittarius] - Machinist - Bravery 97, Faith 62

Equipment : Blaze Gun, Thief’s Cap, Luminous Robe, random accessory

Abilities : Aimed Shot, Mana Shield, Defense Boost, Lifefont,

other ability random

ENEMY: Cletienne [Gemini] - Sorceror - Bravery 97, Faith 81

Equipment : Wizard’s Rod, Thief’s Cap, Luminous Robe, random accessory

Abilities : Magicks, Magick Counter, Arcane Strength, Manafont,

other ability random

ENEMY: Loffrey [Capricorn] - Divine Knight - Bravery 97, Faith 68

Equipment : Excalibur, Crystal Shield, Circlet, Luminous Robe,

random accessory

Abilities : Unyielding Blade, Soulbind, Arcane Defense, Ignore Elevation,

other ability random

ENEMY: Wiegraf [Virgo] - White Knight - Bravery 97, Faith 64

Equipment : Excalibur, Crystal Shield, Circlet, Luminous Robe,

random accessory

Abilities : Holy Sword, Mana Shield, Attack Boost, Ignore Elevation,

other ability random

ENEMY: Folmarv [Leo] - Divine Knight - Bravery 97, Faith 68

Equipment : Excalibur, Crystal Shield, Luminous Robe, other equipment random

Abilities : Unyielding Blade, First Strike, Defense Boost, Ignore Elevation,

other ability random

ENEMY: Zalmour [Sagittarius] - Celebrant - Bravery 97, Faith 70

Equipment : Eight-fluted Pole, Thief’s Cap, Luminous Robe, random accessory

Abilities : Priest Magicks, Magick Counter, Arcane Strength, Lifefont,

other ability random

On to Battle 9! Here you’ll fight all the Knights Templar. This is also a

tricky battle, especially because most of them have Excaliburs (giving them an

auto-Haste) and all have 97 Bravery, which means their reaction abilities

activate quite frequently.

If you have Safeguard, you’ll be protected against their Crush attacks and they

pretty much have to resort to physical attacks, which you should be able to

block with Shirahadori. This makes Wiegraf the most dangerous -- Safeguard

won’t protect you from his Holy Sword techniques, and they do a LOT of damage,

thanks to his Attack Boost!